The Archer of Blades
by Thuiy
Summary: Shirou Emiya wants to be a hero. The land of Ylisse desperately needs one. With Grima roaming the Earth, the citizens know that it's only a matter of time before they perish. Shirou learns of the Princess' plan to turn back the clock and decides to help end Grima's threat once and for all.
1. Chapter 1

Shirou was used to pain.

During the Holy Grail War, there was hardly a day when Shirou wasn't stabbed or beaten to the point of unconsciousness, and he was almost always injured during the brief but intense conflict.

Going even further than that, Shirou would create makeshift magic circuits by cannibalizing his own nerves, putting him in tremendous pain. Worse than that, he had no idea that he had been doing anything wrong before then.

So a headache wasn't that big of a deal for Shirou. What WAS a problem for him right this moment was that he could tell that his magic circuits (which he managed to awaken during the aforementioned Holy Grail War), were practically spent.

That was expected though, to be honest. Shirou remembered manifesting his reality marble and using that to defeat the King of Heroes himself, Gilgamesh of Uruk. Even with Rin's family crest grafted onto him, he knew that he would be completely exhausted, even if he somehow managed to live.

However, as Shirou was thinking about that fight, he ran into something that made him pause. He remembered when his reality marble fell. He managed to seriously injure Gilgamesh, taking his arm and cutting deep into the servant's chest. But even though that would kill a normal human, a servant would likely be able to survive those wounds. Even if they were one unsuited to physical combat like the King of Heroes was.

So why was he still alive? It was obvious that Shirou's existence infuriated Gilgamesh, so why would he not have finished off the faker while Shirou was down?

And that was when Shirou finally took in his surroundings. Trees surrounded his vicinity. Another oddity, given the fact that his last fight was in a temple. Even if it had been leveled, there wouldn't be any trees left.

So the faker stood up to try and get a better indication of where he was, which only brought more pain. Clutching his shoulder, Shirou took stock of his injuries. His shirt and pants were torn to shreds, but luckily all of his injuries were only shallow cuts. He would likely be fine within a day or two, given the fact that Avalon was still merged with his body.

Shirou did a quick survey of his surroundings. He was in the middle of a strange forest, one that he didn't recognize. Based on the information that he was getting from his structural analysis though, the trees didn't resemble any that he'd seen in the Fuyuki area.

So where was he?

His thought process was brought to a halt as he heard the familiar sound of steel meeting steel coming from nearby. Shirou turned in that direction, and started moving towards the sound. However, once he heard the sound of screams in the distance, he started to pick up the pace.

 _Someone's in trouble!_ He thought to himself.

He only lamented the fact that he didn't have enough Prana left to use to get there faster, especially not if he was going to help someone out once he got there. He would have to maintain his normal running speed, even though his body was screaming at him to slow down and rest. But he couldn't. Not when someone was in danger.

He stumbled as he ran across the uneven terrain, but he was still determined to reach the battle that he could tell he was getting closer to. When he reached the clearing, he was shocked at what he saw.

There appeared to be a walled-off village in the middle of the forest. The buildings inside looked old, old enough to have been made centuries ago… In medieval Europe. But that wasn't the part that disturbed Shirou the most.

The things that caught his attention the most was the strange battle group that was assaulting the main gates of the town, which looked like they'd been smashed inwards. The strange creatures certainly LOOKED human… But they were very obviously not. They almost reminded him of the modern depiction of zombies, but fast and wielding weapons. He vaguely recalled Rin mentioning something about undead once, but it was mostly in passing. He'd have to ask her about it when he saw her again.

Regardless, these creatures were attacking the small town, and Shirou knew that he needed to help. However, his options were somewhat limited due to his lack of Prana. Melee was almost certainly not an option, as that required a constant stream going into his body to enhance his muscles and reflexes.

Therefore, his best choice here would be range. Not knowing how tough the creatures would be, Shirou decided to err on the side of caution and project Archer's bow. Luckily, the bow in question never became famous enough to become a noble phantasm, nor was it ever touched enough by magic to be a mystic code. Because of that, the Prana cost was small in comparison to most of the other bows in Shirou's arsenal.

The servant in question had made this bow for the purpose of making full use of his reinforced strength, with the added benefit of being able to fire off noble phantasms. Shirou would be able to use bursts of reinforcement in his arms to conserve his Prana, but for now he would have to refrain from using anything more than mundane arrows against these undead creatures.

"Trace, on!" Shirou voices the familiar words, and calls forth an arrow from his inner world.

Swiftly letting loose an arrow, Shirou decides to aim for the head of the creatures, just in case they follow the modern interpretation of zombies. The one that he hit fell over immediately, whether because of the sheer force behind the shot or because it was hit in the head, Shirou wasn't quite sure. Regardless, the one that he hit dissolved into purple-black smoke rather than leave a corpse.

The death of the one that he'd hit had the added benefit (in Shirou's mind, at least) of attracting the rest of the creatures towards him. Shirou used their brief pause to fire even more arrows at the crowd as fast as he could.

While nowhere near as fast as his future counterpart, Shirou was definitely no slouch himself, especially not with the bursts of reinforcement magic that he was applying to his body.

With a savage roar, a small group broke off from the rest, evidently deciding that the best was to deal with Shirou was to attempt to overwhelm him with numbers.

Seeing this, Shirou merely kept up his pace, barely able to kill his opponents before they could reach him. However, this only prompted larger and larger groups to attack Shirou's position.

As the creatures came closer and closer to Shirou's position, Shirou realized that he needed to change tactics. He couldn't kill the creatures faster than they were approaching. However, he didn't have enough Prana to even trace a Noble Phantasm, let alone actually activate one. Even something as simple as Kanshou and Bakuya was just a little bit out of reach for him at the moment. But he still needed something to thin the horde approaching him.

A flash of inspiration struck Shirou then. He remembered seeing one of Archer's favorite weapons to shoot out of his bow, and Shirou believed that he could replicate the method that Archer used to fire it. However, he knew that he'd have to be quick. He was using an untested technique in the middle of a battlefield. If this didn't work, he'd have to escape quickly before the horde reached him. He quickly traced a simple blade into his hands.

"Trace, on!" Shirou shouted.

Copying Archer's method of transforming the fake spiral sword into an arrow, Shirou shaped this nameless blade into an arrow as well, and then immediately fired it.

The results spoke for themselves. This arrow was much heavier than any normal arrow, so instead of merely stopping a singular zombie, continued out the back of the first zombie's head and continued onto the second, and then embedded itself in a third zombie's face, causing it to keel over dead.

This however, didn't stop the horde that was currently approaching him, and one of the creatures took a swing at Shirou. In response, Shirou parried the swing with Archer's bow and shot another sword-arrow at that one, before dodging under another swing. Shirou projected another sword-arrow, and used it to decapitate the one that just attempted to strike him down, before firing into the crowd yet again.

On and on this went, as the horde seemed nearly endless. Shirou felled dozens by the second, but they just kept on coming. The ground reached the point where it became eerily reminiscent of Shirou's own reality marble from the sword-arrows that were still embedded in the ground, but Shirou still didn't let up. He knew that he had to keep fighting to protect whatever survivors might be left in that village.

After a few more moments however, Shirou realized that they were beginning to thin. The ground was almost coated in a black mist, but the creatures were almost gone.

Firing a few more shots at the stragglers that remained, Shirou examined his battlefield. The sword-arrows that he shot were still embedded in the ground, resolutely marking the spot where Shirou had killed the foul beings. However, Shirou was more concerned about the town, and so focused his attention there. There were a few guards at the broken-down gate who seemed to have wounds all over their bodies. Shirou decided to approach them to see if there was anything that he could do to help.

The guards at the gate were looking at Shirou with awe and mild suspicion. The awe was obvious. The young man in front of them was quite possibly the best archer they'd ever seen and had single-handedly held off the horde of risen that was about to wipe out their village. The suspicion mostly stemmed from the healthy paranoia that kept them alive in the hellish times they lived in. A man with a ridiculous amount of power appears just out of nowhere, just as they were about to lose everything? It seemed a bit too convenient.

However, Shirou noticed none of this as he approached the gate. He was way too exhausted now to figure out what the men in front of him were thinking. Instead, he gave the small group a tired smile.

"Ah, hello. Sorry to disturb you all, but I think I'm a bit lost… Would you mind telling me where I am please?" He asked.

The guards blinked in confusion, not quite comprehending Shirou's question for a few moments, before one of them speaks up.

"U-um… Yes, sorry. You're in New Southtown… Or at least, what's left of it. Everything beyond these walls has been burnt to the ground, but thanks to you we managed to save the people within."

Shirou's smile brightened a bit. It was always nice when he could help people. "That's good to hear…" He's about to say more, but his exhaustion finally starts to kick in. "I'm… Sorry to impose, but I'm completely exhausted. Could I sleep somewhere within your walls? I don't want one of those things to get me in the night."

The guards turn to look at one in particular, who had slightly decorated armor on, signifying the captain of the local guard. He shrugs in response, but then nods soon afterwards.

"Sure, seems like the least we can do. Just don't start any funny business, alright?"

Shirou merely nods tiredly in response, following behind the small group of soldiers that eventually lead him to what appears to be a town hall. Upon entering, Shirou finds it packed full of people, likely refugees. However, the moment that the guards lead him to an empty bed, Shirou collapses bonelessly and allows the sweet release of sleep to take him over.

While he sleeps, he doesn't realize that his mere presence had already sent ripples through the new land he found himself in.

* * *

In a large castle in the middle of the desert, a man in long flowing robes paces back and forth, his rest greatly disturbed.

"What does it mean?" He mutters to himself.

Mere hours ago, he felt a large burst of magic in southern Ylisse. Moments later, one of his assaults on a relatively minor village near the area was foiled before it could breach the walls of the town.

There had been no warning, and he hadn't had any spies among his forces there to identify the source. It was somewhat concerning. Perhaps Naga had managed to find a way to drive him back?

He shoved that thought to the side. It was impossible. She would have to retrieve the gemstones to truly be a threat to him, and those were exceptionally well hidden. No, whatever this new ploy was, it was no true threat to his plans, merely a way for Naga to buy time while her followers flounder around in the dirt.

He nodded to himself. Yes, there was truly no need to concern himself over this new fly in the ointment. He would send a scouting party with another raid on New Southtown, that would satisfy his curiosity.

And soon… Soon it would be time to take Ylisstol itself. Now that Valm and the far continents had been taken, there would be no more true threats left to his absolute destruction of the world.

* * *

 _She looked around. She didn't recognize where she was._

 _The ground was lacking in any grass, and the sky was a strange red hue, almost as if the sun was setting. There were objects far up in the sky obscuring the sun, but she could tell that they weren't clouds._

 _However, by far the strangest thing were the swords. There were swords everywhere, sticking vertically into the ground. Some were of pristine make and quality, and she could even detect faint wisps of magic coming from them._

 _Others were of common make, but some others almost felt like they had been possessed by an evil spirit. On and on the weapons went, going off into and then over the horizon._

 _Looking around, she could truly see nothing but swords. She decided to walk forwards, to explore the strange new land that she found herself in._

 _She walked, and walked, and walked. For how long? Even she did not know the answer. Eventually though, the ground started to rise into a hill._

 **The Hill of Swords**

 _A voice seemed to say in her head, though she did not recognize who said it. Looking at the hill seemed to send a shiver down her spine, as if her body instinctively knew that whatever this hill was, she wasn't going to like what was at the top. However, seeing nothing else around her yet again, she climbed the hill heedless of her body's warning._

 _As she climbed, the swords around her seemed to be of better and higher quality make. Some practically radiated power. All grabbed her attention, but she could not stop to rest, for she must climb._

 _As she crested the top of the hill, she finally saw something different. There was a man in a red trench coat with stark white hair, his back facing her has he stared off to the horizon._

 _That was not what caught her attention though. That distinction belonged to the multitude of blades sticking through his body. He collapsed to his knees, still looking to the horizon. She rushed to him, looking to see if she could do anything to help._

 _As she grabbed his shoulders to get a good look at him, she made notice of his steel gray eyes, which widened in complete and utter shock at her presence._

" _S-...Sa…." He starts to say, before his eyes dim and he knows no more._

Lucina lurches forwards in her bed.

Her head darts back and forth, doing a quick scan of her room. She was in the castle. No desert of iron dust, no hill of swords, and no dying man in her hands.

And yet… That wasn't a normal dream. Her normal dreams involved her dead family, or Grima, or the army of risen poised to take Ylisstol any day now. That… Was an entirely unusual dream for her to have.

"Was that really a dream?" She asked herself.

If it wasn't, then what did it mean? Who was that man? What was that place? What was he trying to say before he died?

She shook her head. It didn't matter. Her spies had told her that they had managed to find the fourth gemstone. They could finally make their move today, after years of waiting, they could finally start to take the fight to Grima himself.

She needed to be focused, no matter how strange her dream was, she could deal with it later.

 **A/N:**

 **Well… Hi.**

 **If any of you are here because of** _ **Chance to Matter**_ **, I'm working on it… Slowly. My muse hasn't been around for a while, but hopefully I'll be able to pump out a chapter in the next few weeks.**

 **Anyways, this is kind of a 'pilot' chapter for this idea. I'm a HUGE fan of Fate/Stay Night, especially Shiro's character. I've got a few ideas as to how I want him to interact with the Fire Emblem world, and hopefully you guys will like what I'm going to do here.**

 **I'm a bit disappointed that the Fire Emblem franchise doesn't have a huge amount of good crossover fanfics, so I'm hoping that I can help fix that lack with this story.**

I don't know how long this story is going to be, but in the future the chapters will be longer than this one. I just wanted to kind of test the waters with this first chapter, see what people think.

 **Also, for any of you that didn't figure it out, we're in the future kids' future, before they went back in time.**


	2. Chapter 2

When Shirou next awoke, he found that he was still lying on the bed that he had collapsed in the night prior. He had been half expecting the entire experience to have been a dream, but apparently that wasn't the case.

 _So then... Where am I?_ He thought to himself. The guards had said he was in some place called 'New Southtown', but where was that really? Shirou rolled out of bed (and wasn't that a strange experience) and took in his surroundings. The building was nowhere near as full as it was last night, with only a few people scattered around the place. As he was scanning the area though, something in the corner of his eye caught his attention.

Propped next to the bed that Shirou had just slept on was a quiver of arrows as well as Archer's bow. Both of those were surprises, but for different reasons. The quiver was strange because Shirou didn't own one. He never really had to before, seeing as he had never used the bow in combat before last night. The fact that one was there meant that someone wanted him to have it.

The bow however was another story. While Shirou didn't know much in the way of the specifics of how magecraft worked, anything that Shirou traced would disappear after a few minutes, and that was only if he kept pumping them with his Prana, which was something that he flat out couldn't do while he was unconscious. That being said, that was definitely Archer's bow. A quick use of structural analysis told him that much.

 _So then why is it still there?_ He thought to himself.

Something must have changed about Shirou's magecraft, but he had no idea what changed or when the change happened. However, Shirou believed that the change, whatever it was, happened sometime between when he defeated Gilgamesh and when he woke up in the forest outside of this small village.

Such a shame then, that he had absolutely no recollection of that time period.

Shoving those thoughts to the side for later, Shirou looked over his body and assessed his injuries. He had taken one or two shallow cuts the night prior, and wanted to make sure that Avalon had healed them over. Luckily, his wounds had completely closed up, leaving only the dried blood remaining.

Checking his prana reserves next, Shirou was happy to note that they had almost completely filled up, which would likely be enough should the worst happen.

Nodding in satisfaction, Shirou grabbed the copy of Archer's bow next to his bed. No reason to not take it after all, that would be a waste of Prana. However, when Shirou took another look at the quiver, he hesitated. He had never really had need for a quiver before as a combat tool, and neither had Archer. After all, what was the point? He could create his own arrows, and they were destroyed after a few minutes anyways.

Yet now… It could be prudent to trace a few projectiles to store for later… Yes, Shirou was sure of it. He could essentially use prana on non-combat days in order to stock up weapons for fights. So, without further ado, Shirou secured the quiver to his back. He wouldn't trace anything for the quiver yet though. He would need to see where exactly where he was and what the situation with those zombie things was.

Those things were… Strange. He had tried using structural analysis on their weapons, but… He couldn't. Shirou didn't know why though, he just got a slight headache when he tried and then nothing else happened. Something about those creatures was definitely interfering with his magecraft, but he had no idea what.

Heading out of the building, Shirou looked around at the settlement that he found himself in.

He had been right the previous night. This place looked like what he expected the middle ages to look like in Europe. There were people wandering around with carts, and the buildings were made out of a mixture of stone, wood, and thatch.

There was only one problem… The atmosphere. Everyone around him was moving slowly, most of them having their heads hanging low. They looked like… They'd all given up.

Was the situation that bad? Those creatures hadn't been terribly hard to kill, but then again Shirou had no idea how many of them there were.

 _I just keep finding more questions… Regardless, these people need my help. I need to find whoever's in charge._ Shirou thought to himself.

Asking around, Shirou was directed to the captain of the guard, who was using a house near the gate Shirou had helped defend last night as a barracks. Entering it, Shirou noted a distinct lack of personnel, only seeing four guards total. Perhaps the rest were out patrolling? Shirou could only hope that was the case, but he couldn't help feel like the truth was much worse…

They appeared to notice his approach however, as they all turned their heads up to face him.

"Ah, I see you're awake. That's good." The one who appeared to be the captain said. He as well as the rest of the guards were wearing a small amount of plate mail on their persons. However, the captain had a helmet on, as well as slight decoration on his shoulders. Looking at their armor, Shirou could see that it was in fairly poor condition. It was littered with scratches and obvious bloodstains that had yet to be washed away.

"Yes, thank you for providing me a place to rest. I really needed it." Shirou replied with a smile. "However, I was hoping you could answer me a few questions."

The guards briefly look at each other for a moment and then they all seemed to nod. "We shouldn't have any issue with that, though we have a few questions to ask you as well."

Shirou shrugged his shoulders in response. "Sure thing. Why don't you start with yours, I can wait."

"Alright. Let's start with the easy one, what's your name?"

"Ah! Sorry, I didn't mean to not introduce myself." Shirou replied, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "My name is Shirou Emiya. Pleasure to meet you all."

"It's no issue. You obviously weren't in any condition to tell us after all. We're the remainder of the guard here. I'm Mark, and these are Logan, Evan, and Luke."

The introduced guards all nod back politely at the now introduced Shirou, who raises an eyebrow questioningly.

"You're the last? What happened to all the others?"

The captain sighed tiredly, and it was obvious that the question had an impact on the other guards, seeing that the rest flinched as soon as Shirou asked that question.

"They… Didn't make it through last night. Honestly, we almost didn't make it ourselves. Probably wouldn't have if you hadn't shown up…" The captain admitted solemnly. "Which leads me to my biggest question… Why are you here, and why did you help us? Don't get me wrong, we're glad that you did it, but it looked like you were pretty beaten up before you even got here."

Shirou shrugged his shoulders. "Not much to say really. I kind of just woke up right next to your town. No idea how I got here, but I saw that you needed help, so I did." He explained. He then smiled at the guards. "As for why? Well, honestly I didn't really think too hard about it. I just saw that you needed help, so I helped."

The guards exchange glances. It's obvious that they don't believe Shirou's words. The captain sighs, having been put in a very difficult situation. He looked the strange new archer in the eyes for a few moments. However, try as he might, Mark could find no deception in those golden pools. If anything, Shirou seemed confused as to what Mark himself was doing.

The captain lowered his head in defeat. "I suppose we have no choice but to believe you… Regardless of your intentions, I thank you for helping us last night."

Mark's words only served to confuse Shirou even more. "What do you mean?" The teen asked.

Luke scoffed. "Please. You just 'happened' to wake up right as we were getting attacked? And then you just 'decided' to help us? With your magic, we had assumed that you were working for the Princess. Guess we were wrong. So what is it you want? Food? Weapons? Or even-"

"Luke! That's enough!" Mark shouted at his subordinate. The man in question merely looked away, not really looking sorry.

Shirou stared in disbelief at the man, before gazing at the other three in the room. "Does this… Happen often?" Shirou asked.

Mark grimaced. "As our guard has been depleted more an more, our town has been visited by a wide variety of mercenaries. In these troubled times… Most are not generous with their fees."

Logan nodded. "We were lucky that only a few wanted… People." He shuddered in revulsion. "Those were rough days for the guard. Those mercenaries that wanted more than the rest took whatever they wanted. They tended to be the strongest, and we never were much of a militia in the first place…" He then looked into Shirou's eyes, and his expression suddenly became hopeful. "But you… You're not like that, are you?"

Shirou shook his head. "No. I'm not. I really meant what I said. If it makes you feel any better, I am not as selfless as I might have implied."

At that, all of the other guards looked at him in question. "Oh?" Mark asked. "From what you told us, it sounds like you helped us without expecting anything in return."

Shirou nodded. "I suppose I did, and it is true that I don't expect anyone from your village to offer me a reward. Merely saving you is enough for me."

Evan decided to speak up then. "But then… What's so selfish about that?"

"Saving people is something I enjoy doing. It is something that I have dedicated my life to doing." He smiled then. And something about that smile resonated with the guards before him. A smile so sincere, so fragile that it couldn't possibly be faked.

The guards simply nodded numbly. Shirou's expression was of a happiness that could not be forged, could not be faked. Seeing that, how could they disbelieve the words of the man in front of them?

Finally, Mark seemed to find his voice again. "Well then… We've asked you our questions. You said that you had some as well?"

Shirou nodded. He actually had many questions, though he felt like he might already have some answers. He finally managed to remember why it was that hiss weapons didn't stick around for long. Gaia, the will of the planet, actively worked against magecraft. This resulted in Shirou's weapons only having a lifespan of a few short minutes before they expired. However, if his weapons lasted longer, wouldn't that mean that Gaia has no influence over his magic anymore?

But if that were the case, was that a more localized event or… Something else?

However, that wasn't the important question. He could figure out the answer to that question on his own. No. There was a far more pressing matter in Emiya Shirou's mind…

"How can I help?" He asked.

Their eyes widened in shock. "What?!" Mark exclaimed. "THAT'S your question?!"

Shirou nodded. "Yes. You've already told me everything I need to know."

Mark just looked more confused. "What… What did we tell you? You haven't actually asked us ANYTHING!"

Shirou nodded calmly, his eyes closed. "That's true. But I didn't have to. You told me that you are all that remains that could protect this town. You told me that others come by and take your resources away for protection, and you told me that you are likely to be attacked again." His eyes opened, and Mark could have sworn that they had flashed to the color of steel gray for a moment, but thought better of it. The expression staring at the guards was hard and determined. "Knowing all of this, how could I not offer my help? So I will ask again, how can I help?"

The guards looked at each other again, simply dumbfounded by the man sitting in the room with them. The captain cleared his throat as he shoved down the bafflement towards Shirou's words. "You seemed to be a good archer the last night. What's your effective range and how good are you?"

Shirou simply smiled.

* * *

That had been days ago. Since then, Shirou had taken up residence at the top of a large church in the middle of the town. It had the highest vantage point for miles, and even though the trees were in the way, Shirou was confident that he could still see through the coverage that they would provide any enemies. His reinforced sight allowed him to perform feats of accuracy that rivaled Archer, whose maximum range was several kilometers away. Using that, Shirou scanned the area all around the village religiously. He had spent the past few days periodically tracing sword-arrows and placing them in his quiver. Because of how alert he was required to be, Shirou had yet to actually trace a Noble Phantasm, not wanting to run out of Prana before an attack came.

He had actually decided to trace one at the end of the day, however his plans changed when he saw movement in the trees. Narrowing his eyes at that location, he noticed that the movement came from a human. That was unusual, as there was no one out of the walls that should be in that area. In addition, there were quite a few of them, and none of the guards had mentioned any kind of supply convoy coming anytime soon.

That left one very likely possibility: bandits. While it was possible that these could be refugees, it was unlikely. They looked fairly healthy, and from what Shirou could determine from their expressions, they were in a good mood.

Shirou grabbed a normal arrow, and wrote a message saying 'Possible bandits, 2 o'clock'. He then wrapped it around the arrow, tied a knot around the message to secure it to the arrow, and fired it right beyond the gate, where the guards were looking out.

This caused the guards to jump a little bit, as this was the first time that Shirou had sent a message at them. However, they quickly noticed that it was a message and read it. Mark nodded up at Shirou, and though the man in question was too far away to see it, Shirou nodded back.

In mere moments, the group was upon the guards. Shirou counted a good fifteen that had stepped into the clearing that Shirou had fought in a few nights prior, which was still riddled with blades sticking into the ground. However, the men in question didn't even pause at the sight, seemingly assuming that some great battle had happened there. They were not disturbed by the sight. If anything, most of them seemed thrilled by the information that a battle had happened recently. Doing a quick scan of the trees, Shirou could tell that they didn't have any more waiting out of sight. Good. He could deal with the small group if push came to shove.

The moment the group of fifteen reached the gates, Shirou reinforced his ears so that he could hear what they were saying.

"Ho there friends! My companions and I saw your village from afar, and we graciously decided to offer our services! We are the mercenary group known as Ogma's blade! Maybe you've heard of us?" The leader asked, giving what he must have thought was a charming smile.

"No. Go away." Mark replied, his hand gripping the hilt of his sword with all of his strength.

The mercenary chuckled in response. "Are you sure your town can afford it? From the looks outside it seems like the Risen did a decent number on you lot." He tutted disapprovingly. "You should think about your fellow villagers. Whatever will happen to them if you refuse?" He asked coyly.

Shirou frowned from his position. It was obvious from the tone of the man's voice that he wasn't referring to the Risen.

"We have nothing to give you even if we wanted your help." Mark answered.

"Oh, I'm sure we could come to some sort of arrangement." He said with a smirk.

"Sorry, but I think we'll pass."

The leader frowned, shook his head and sighed, reaching for the hilt of his sheathed sword. "Oh well, can't say I didn't warn you. Well boys, let's-" His words were cut off, as the instant that he put a hand on his sword, he felt a pain in his chest. Looking down, he noticed a hole where his heart used to be, and then the man knew no more.

The other mercenaries looked in horror as their boss was hit by an arrow that was moving far, far faster than any arrow they had ever seen. The fact that it impacted the ground and made a small crater was evidence enough of that. A few of them looked in the direction the arrow came from, only to see a figure standing on a church's roof, a pitch black longbow in his hands.

Even the guards seemed a little startled by the sheer force coming from Shirou's arrows. They hadn't really gotten a chance to get a good look at his skills, since the only fight he had been in was against the Risen, and they were a bit busy fighting for their lives for most of that.

Shirou himself however, was of two minds right now. He disliked killing people. It went against his ideals and who he was as a person. However, that man undoubtedly would have caused the four guards to be killed, and with them likely the entire rest of the village. Even if Shirou had crippled him, he seemed like the kind that would order the rest of the men to attack in revenge. So he had to go. However, now that he was gone, Shirou had options. He could either kill the rest or give them a warning.

If he killed them all now that would be it. No chance of them coming back for revenge, no running off to band together with other groups, nothing. And while Shirou was confident in his capabilities, he could only be awake so many hours of the day. He had to sleep sometime, and he wasn't sure if the guards could handle the rest if they decided to come back. So the smart decision was to simply kill them all and be done with it… The village would be safer that way.

Deciding on his course of action, Shirou traced another arrow and shot it. Then another, then another… All within the course of a few seconds.

These arrows impacted the ground directly at the feet of all of the would-be sellswords, kicking up dirt as they cratered the area that they hit. Almost all of them flinched backwards on instinct, but once the dust settled, the message was clear: 'Cross that line at your own peril'. While there were archers among them, none of them had confidence that they could make the shot, especially not before they were skewered by the strange arrows that the man fired. The group exchanged glances, and held up their hands in the surrender position.

"U-um… We'll just… Go then." One of them said.

"Y-yeah, I never liked him anyways!"

The mercenaries quickly beat a retreat, intent on getting out of range of the strange archer that they had failed to detect before approaching the town. The guards didn't seem particularly pleased about Shirou's decision to spare the lives of the men who just threatened their village, but there was nothing they could really do about it.

Shirou's logic was simple, in Shirou's own way. Shirou's whole existence had become one dedicated to the ideal of 'saving everyone'. Even though Shirou now knew that such a thing was impossible, hypocritical, and will almost certainly send him to a living(?) hell… Well… It was who he was. Even knowing the consequences, he wouldn't be Shirou Emiya if he wasn't chasing after that impossible, beautiful dream. In accordance to his ideals, he would spare those that he could afford to, and he could afford to spare the mercenaries after their leader died.

* * *

Luckily for Shirou, none of the bandits decided to come back, and he had a few peaceful days to continue tracing regular blades and altering them. He even managed to trace arrow versions of both Kanshou and Bakuya, both of whom managed to retain the properties that they had as the married blades. Like in sword form, the blades were a very effective weapon, as they barely cost more Prana than tracing a normal blade. That being said, Shirou didn't trace many of them. Basic blades were more cost-effective than either of the married blades in arrow form. The main reason why Archer used them so often was not only because of their lowered cost, but due to their increased durability from being Noble Phantasms.

Shirou had also yet to try to trace any higher-ranking Noble Phantasms, as that would be too big a drain on his reserves should he get into a fight. He would rather create one on the fly instead.

That decision would later come back to haunt him, as Shirou would soon discover. One day, when everything appeared fairly normal, Shirou saw a mass of enemy movement on the edge of his vision. Focusing his gaze, Shirou noticed a large army of Risen (as he had been informed they were called) rapidly approaching from the North towards the gate. They weren't even trying to be subtle. There were so many, why would they bother?

Shirou knew that he and the guards by themselves weren't enough. Not if Shirou kept to his simple weapons as he had. No, it was time to bring out something deadlier. He needed one of Archer's favorite weapons - Caladbolg II.

" **I am the-** " Shirou started, before suddenly screaming out in pain as it felt like he had just been skewered by several invisible swords.

 _What the hell was that?!_ Shirou thought to himself. _It's almost like my aria was… Rejected?! Why on Earth would that be the case? The Unlimited Blade Works obviously still works… If anything, it should probably be stronger if the duration of my projections is any indication…_ He shook himself of those thoughts. They were hardly pertinent at this moment in time. _I can't trace Caladbolg II without my aria… It simply costs too much Prana._ He grimaced. He would just have to make do without and hoped that what he had would be enough.

He sent another message arrow to notify the guards, and then started firing into the army of undead approaching, making sure to overload his shots with Prana so that they would explode on impact, doing even more damage.

Shirou was managing to stem the flow of the Risen towards New Southtown somewhat, but not enough to truly stop them. However, Shirou was confident that if he eliminated enough now, when they went through the village gates, Shirou could kill them at the bottleneck.

The sound of beating wings made Shirou rethink that plan however, as out of nowhere a large amount of Pegasi, Wyverns and Griffins appeared from above, all with riders on top and dive-bombing Shirou's position. Forced to move or get skewered, Shirou ran across the church roof, firing at the fliers assaulting his position as he did. However, his new opponents were relentless in their pursuit, and Shirou was forced to jump from rooftop to rooftop in order to evade them, shooting at a rapid pace along the way.

When one Griffin rider managed to get too close for comfort, Shirou decided that enough was enough. Deflecting the axe that almost took off his arm, Shirou then cut the head off of the Griffin rider and faced the direction that the rest of the flying undead were coming from.

"Begin Projection." Shirou intoned, starting the process of one of his more powerful spells.

The fliers kept hounding Shirou as he jumped onto another rooftop, tucking and rolling in order to not hurt himself.

"Ending resonance of possession experience" He continued, as he manages to dodge a javelin to the point where it only slightly cuts his cheek open.

"Processes completed. All projections, standby." He stated, turning around to face the bulk of attackers, and imagining the blueprints of over a hundred nameless sword-arrows facing his opponents.

A wyvern rider started another dive-bomb towards Shirou, only for the boy in question to shoot a sword-arrow at it, piercing through the mount and then through the rider, turning them both into purple mist.

"Ceasing decompression, all projections successive fire!" He shouted, as all of a sudden the blueprints formed into real sword-arrows hovering in the air above and around Shirou. Those projections shot away from Shirou, hitting fliers that couldn't react in time among the way. Luckily, Shirou had thought of the villagers first and aimed his wall of sharp pointy death out towards the wall, so none of the arrows would touch down within the walls of New Southtown, sparing any villagers of injury from Shirou's spell.

Shirou then turned his attention to the gate, and paled. While he had been fighting the fliers, the guards had been overrun. The only one still fighting was Mark, and he was covered in blood.

Mark turned to look at Shirou, and smiled as a blade sliced into his chest, spraying out copious amounts of blood and extinguishing the man's life for good. However, Shirou didn't have time to react to Mark's death, as the Risen started flooding into the village. Shirou pumped as much Prana as he safely could into his body in an attempt to fire enough swords to halt the flood. Then when that wasn't enough, he started pouring even more into his body, surpassing what his body could safely handle and risking a complete shutdown of his body in the process.

Shirou eventually had to abandon shooting at the gate and instead attempted to fire at the Risen that were attacking villagers in their homes. However the Risen split up and Shirou found that his attention was dragged simultaneously in several different directions. Valiantly attempting to achieve the dauntless task of shooting at several different targets at the same time, anyone else would have claimed that Shirou's efforts were those of legend. However, for Shirou it still wasn't enough, as the villagers that he had sworn to protect barely more than a week prior died off one by one. The screams resounding throughout the village as the sound of flesh being torn echoed throughout the once-peaceful New Southtown.

Eventually, the Risen realized that there was only one resident left alive in the small hamlet: Shirou himself, still standing upon the rooftop, firing at the Risen that still remained. He had long run out of already-traced arrows, and was now forced to Trace each arrow individually, cutting down on his already exhausted Magic Circuits. The Risen, realizing that there was no actual way up to the top of the church, started using each other as a ramp in order to climb up high enough to reach the magus.

When they eventually did, Shirou dropped Archer's bow, and instead projected Kanshou and Bakuya. He was enraged, a feeling that did not come to him naturally. However, seeing the death and destruction that these creatures wrought… It was enough to enrage him. He was mad at them for committing such deeds in the first place, mad at whatever magic had created them, mad at whoever was responsible for depositing into this world, but most importantly…

He was mad at himself… For not being able to trace Caladbolg II, for not being strong enough to save everyone, for not paying more attention when the fliers were attacking him.

 _I guess… It's still not enough, huh? I thought I was strong enough… That I could at least make a good effort of living up to my ideal, but… I guess Archer had a point after all._ He thought glumly to himself. _Still, if these things think that they can kill me, they've got another thing coming. These people might have died, but I'm going to make sure that these… Things are all killed._

At that moment, words came to Shirou. Words that he had never uttered, yet felt like they had always been meant for him.

" **My body is made of blades.** " He intoned.

His eyes widened. It was the same feeling as when he had managed to materialize the Unlimited Blade Works against Gilgamesh, but his Reality Marble's aria started in a different manner.

He shook his head of those thoughts as he deflected two blades, one aimed at his neck and the other at his chest. It didn't matter. He could trace Caladbolg now, so that made his decision easier.

Pumping as much Prana into his legs as he could, Shirou grabbed Archer's Bow and ran away from New Southtown faster than a bullet. Once he was at a safe distance, Shirou projected Archer's preferred weapon of destruction, the Fake Spiralling Sword. Altering it into the shape of an arrow was simple, having seen Archer do it in the past. He pulled back on the string, hesitating for a brief moment before breaking the Phantasm.

" **My Core Lays Twisted In Madness… CALADBOLG!** "

As soon as the Noble Phantasm was let loose from his bow, Shirou simply stared numbly as the streak of light impacted the small town and enveloped it in a bright light. A few moments later, and the entire village had been levelled. Only a few wisps of smoke and some foundations that Shirou could make out at the impact sight denoted that people had ever even lived there.

Shirou continued to stare at what he had just done, not even noticing that he was robotically walking towards the wreckage. By the time that he had noticed, he was already there. Without even much of a thought, Shirou started turning up building foundations, attempting to find survivors that he knew he wouldn't find.

If Shirou had been in the right state of mind he would have found interesting similarities between this moment and his 'birth' when Kiritsugu found him. They had both caused great destruction, though where Kiritsugu had hope that he could find a survivor of his mistake, Shirou knew that he would find none.

He would mourn the dead in the morning. Tonight, he would upturn every square foot of the village to look for survivors.

And after?... Well, a princess was mentioned at some point. Shirou's expression hardened in determination.

 _Maybe she would like some help with her Risen problem…_ He thought to himself.

 **A/N:**

 **Um… Holy crap. I mean just… Holy crap.**

 **The response on the first chapter (which was a short and rather terrible little pilot chapter) was REDICULOUS! Seriously, this story almost has more follows than ANY of my other stories ever did!**

 **So yeah, took that as a sign to prioritize this chapter over A Chance to Matter. If you're a fan of that fanfic, don't worry, it's next on my list.**

 **Hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. It took me a while to make because I have a ton of stuff on my plate right now and I unfortunately haven't had a lot of time to write. That might change, but we'll see.**

 **If anyone is curious, we will not be in the future for too much longer, probably only another chapter or two. I've got some cool ideas coming for after they get to the Shephard's time, so look forward to that!**

 **Any feedback you guys can give me would be much appreciated, by the way! This is my first ever Fate/Stay Night fanfic so a lot of stuff might pass me by. Such as lilmonix informing me that my tenses were all over the place. That should be better this chapter hopefully, I kept it fairly past-tense and I will eventually go back and fix the first chapter.**

 **Also, to Firesa: I know that Shirou should be able to determine what Risen are based off of their weapons, but I'm kinda ruling that Risen are Divine Constructs and their weapons are mundane, so the most he can get out of that is past movements and deeds of the specific Risen. He wouldn't be able to comprehend much about the Risen themselves. I'm still a bit iffy on how UBW Shirou interacts with Divine Constructs, so I'm just going to assume that he can't fully comprehend them until someone corrects me.**


	3. Chapter 3

Shirou had stayed up all night and most of the next day until he collapsed with exhaustion, but he could find no survivors. He had not been expecting to find any, but much like his father Kiritsugu he desperately hoped that he would find that someone was still alive.

Unlike his late father however he did not find someone who had miraculously survived long enough that they could be saved. No, the Risen were too efficient to leave survivors in their grisly line of work. It definitely didn't help that he himself had set off one of the most destructive weapons in his arsenal while the town in question was within the blast radius.

Those creatures that the locals called Risen… He didn't truly understand what they really were. They were obviously undead, yet they were far more durable and complex than the simple skeleton warriors that Caster had spawned in the Holy Grail War. However, what concerned him the most was that he couldn't scan the Risen's weapons. The only time where Shirou had been unable to properly analyze a weapon was his brief but terrifying encounter with was Gilgamesh's signature weapon, Ea. However, he could tell that the weapons these creatures carried were nowhere near the level of power that that monstrosity possessed.

But then how come he couldn't read their weapons? Did that mean that the weapons were magical constructs, similar in nature to that of his own projections? He shook his head. That wasn't the case. If it were, he would be able to copy them, just as he had copied Archer's own projections.

Grimacing at the thought of his much-hated future self, Shirou ran through other possibilities. The issue is that he himself knew next to nothing about Ea other than the fact that it was obviously immensely powerful. Perhaps some form of magic was making their weapons not really 'weapons'. If that was the case, then if he could get a close-up look of a Risen for enough time, he might be able to read the history of that particular Risen.

Shirou nodded. That was a test for another time. For now, he had to move on. While he was heartbroken about the townspeople that he had been unable to save, he could not afford to stop. From the little he knew, there was a large city to the north of New Southtown, one which used to be the capital of the land that he now found himself in before it was ravished by the Risen. He had been told that a princess by the name of Lucina ruled there, and that she was considered by many as the last hope to defeat the Risen threat.

With a newly-gained bone to pick with these undead creatures, as well as his constant desire to save others, it was a no-brainer for Shirou that he would have to make the journey to the city in order to prevent any other towns from sharing the fate of the one he had been unable to save.

His mind made up, Shirou walked north, having nothing other than a vague direction to go in in order to guide him towards his destination.

* * *

The plan had gone better than Lucina had expected. While she had watched over Ylisstol, her closest friends had gone throughout the land to find as many gemstones of the Fire Emblem that they could. Breaking her expectations, her friends had managed to gather a total of four of the five total gemstones, and best of all none had died in the process.

She had been over the moon at their success. They finally had what they needed to stop Grima's rule over the world, to finally strike back against the fell dragon.

However, it felt like for every success, there were just as many failures. Many of which Lucina knew would haunt her to her final days. When Grima had figured out that they had stolen the gemstones, he had been furious and had personally lead the assault that finally burned Ylisstol to the ground. Lucina had long since believed that Grima had only been holding off on assaulting the old capital of Ylisse either out of amusement at their struggles to survive or because he had to deal with larger threats elsewhere.

In fact, it was almost a good sign that Grima had been so upset about their loss, as it confirmed that the path they were travelling down had a definite chance of defeating the Fell Dragon. She only wished that this confirmation hadn't come at the cost of all the lives within the old capital.

For while it was great that they were now sure on what they had to do, Lucina had never thought that Grima would react how he had.

 _What else could I have done?_ Lucina asked to herself. _We needed those gemstones, and it's not like I could have evacuated the population… Ylisstol is the last safe haven that I'm aware exists._

Though even with that rational line of thinking, it did nothing to abate the guilt that she felt. She had been forced to flee the city with her friends, sacrificing the lives of her own loyal soldiers in order to buy time so that they could flee and retaliate against Grima.

Looking around at her friends as they marched onwards towards their destination, she could tell that they had similar lines of thought. Even Owain and her sister, the perpetually cheerful members of their little group were unusually silent, obviously not in the mood for their usual antics after the sheer loss that they had been forced to run away from.

"Right, I think that's far enough for today." Lucina proclaimed to the rest. While no one was especially tired per se, it was obvious that everyone needed a night to come to terms with what had happened.

"We should be far enough away from Ylisstol that nothing should have caught up with us just yet. Everyone find a comfortable spot. I'll take first lookout, followed by Gerome and then Yarne." She declared.

She got no verbal confirmation in return, but everyone silently nodded their assent back at the princess. She supposed that was as much as she could ask for.

As she stood watch for the next several hours, Lucina was forced to come to terms with the fact that their plan, the one that they had sacrificed so many lives for, might not even have a chance of being successful. In order to complete the awakening, all five gemstones as well as the Fire Emblem were needed. They had only been successful in gathering four of them, as well as the emblem itself. While that was a significant achievement, it was not everything they needed.

The original plan had been to go out and locate the final remaining gemstone as a collective group, but after the sacking of Ylisstol, they knew that they did not have the time to do so. Laurent had a hunch that Naga might be able to help them with four out of the five, but had admitted that it was a long shot. Regardless, it was now their only hope. They simply did not have the time to track down the last gemstone and had to hope that what they had would be enough.

For Grima was now hunting them, and with the sheer amount of Risen under his command, it was only a matter of time before they were discovered.

As the princess got lost in her depressing thoughts, the night slipped away from her, eventually, she was disturbed by the sounds of footsteps coming from behind her. Swiftly pivoting on one foot, Lucina grabbed the handle of Falchion, and was about to unsheath it when she saw what had caused the noise.

She sighed in relief as she let her hand fall to her side.

"Gerome." She said quietly. "Is it your turn already?"

The masked man in question nodded. "Yes." He responded. "I haven't been able to sleep anyways, but I've been trying. You should get some rest."

Lucina nodded, but made no indication to move as Gerome approached her.

"What's on your mind?" He asked.

"I think the same that's on everyone's right now…" Lucina muttered. She sat down against a nearby tree and started to rest. However, her thoughts had yet to leave her alone.

"Gerome?" She asked. Upon getting a hum in response, she continued. "Do you… Do you think we're going to do it? Do you think we can beat Grima?"

Gerome was silent for a while after that, causing Lucina to think that maybe he hadn't heard her, but before she could ask her question again, the masked man finally spoke up.

"I don't know." He responded. "It seems unlikely, but does it really matter?"

His statement confused Lucina. "What do you mean? Of course it matters!"

Gerome shook his head. "No. I don't believe it does. Whether or not we can kill Grima with what we have, our path forward remains the same. What good does it do to consider the idea that we fail before we even try? If all our efforts were fruitless, then we're all dead anyways. Thinking about that possibility though… That just demoralizes everyone, makes us sloppy, and increases the odds that we won't even find out in the first place."

Lucina reeled back in shock at Gerome's answer. Never in a million years had she expected such an articulate answer from her normally taciturn friend.

"Wow Gerome… That's surprisingly optimistic of you."

Gerome snorted in amusement. "I have thoughts like that all the time. Generally they give nothing but false hope, so I leave them to myself." He turned around to face the princess. "Get some rest. We have to march hard tomorrow."

Lucina looked like she was about to argue, only to not be able to stifle a yawn. Gerome's gaze seemed to intensify knowingly at the princess, who simply blushed in response, before muttering a quick 'goodnight' and walked over to where the others were sleeping. Well… Most of the others.

Lucina winced when she saw Severa's condition. The normally tough girl was staring at the night sky, her eyes red and obvious tear tracks running down her face. The reason was immediately obvious to Lucina, and it only served to make her feel worse about her capabilities as a leader. Determined to help her friend in a time of need, Lucina walked over to the tree that Severa was laying back against and put a hand on the girl's shoulder.

Severa jumped slightly, startled by the unexpected contact. Upon seeing the hand on her shoulder, and who said hand was attached to, fresh tears seemed to start to fall down her face.

"Severa… I'm so sorry…" Lucina muttered, sitting down next to the red-haired girl.

The girl in question sniffled. "Why'd it have to be her, Lucina… Why her?"

Lucina hugged Severa, attempting to comfort her. "I… I don't know. If… If you hate me now Severa, I would under-"

"Don't." Severa interrupted. "I don't blame you. And she wouldn't either. Just… Stay with me for a while, okay? Please? I really… Really need a friend right now." She pleaded.

Lucina nodded in response, holding her distraught friend as she cried into the shoulder of the princess. The two of them stayed like that for quite some time, and before either of the two knew it, they had fallen asleep, the exhaustion of the day finally catching up to them.

However, seemingly moments after Lucina had closed her eyes, she was shaken awake. "Lucina!" She heard someone whisper desperately from her left.

"Lucina, you have to wake up! We're in danger!" She heard someone whine as they shook her shoulder.

Hearing those words, Lucina immediately went from drowsy to wide awake. Looking to the voice in question, Lucina noticed that it was Yarne, which likely meant that Gerome had finished his shift, and Lucina had actually managed to get some rest.

"Yarne, what's wrong?" Lucina demanded in a whisper, making sure to match the voice level of the half-taguel.

"There's a ton of Risen heading straight our way! They haven't seen us yet, but there's- there's just so many of them!" Yarne said, quickly getting into a state of panic.

"Yarne, calm down. Can you show me the Risen, or did you just hear them?"

Yarne shook his head. "No, I had to sprint in taguel form to a nearby hill just to see them, and we don't have the time to do that again! We've gotta get out of here!"

Lucina merely nodded. "Right. Wake up everyone but Gerome and Cynthia. I'll help them wake up the mounts quietly, and then we'll have to move as fast as possible."

Yarne rapidly nodded, before sprinting off towards the rest of their surviving group. Lucina shook Severa awake quickly.

"Hmmgh? Lucy? Wha's-" She started.

"No time. Risen horde incoming quickly." Lucina responded. "We have to get going. Yarne's waking up the rest."

Quickly waking up both Gerome and Cynthia, the princess held a quick council with the rest of her friends.

"We need to quickly mount up. Risen are inbound any moment now. Brady, Inigo, Laurent, you join Gerome on Minerva. Noire, Kjelle, you two go with Cynthia on Caeda. Owain, Nah, you two ride on Yarne's back, and Severa and I will ride with Mor-" That was where Lucina halted, realizing an inherent flaw to her plan. Morgan had not made it out of the razing of Ylisstol. They did not have a second pegasus, and every other mount was at capacity. Nah herself was incapable of defending herself while also carrying another, as she was still very young in comparison to most Manaketes.

"Dammit." She muttered to herself. "Okay, that plan won't work. I refuse to leave any of you behind, so that means we'll have to just try to avoid attention as long as we can and hope that we can make it."

"Lucina" Gerome protested. "We can still make sure that you can escape. You are vital to defeating Grima, we should ensure your safety first."

Lucina shook her head in disagreement. "No. Regardless of whether or not I would be okay with leaving the remainder behind, the fact of the matter is that we are all that remains to fight against Grima and his hordes. It won't matter whether or not I will be able to perform the Awakening if I cannot even reach Grima in the first place."

Gerome grunted in agreement, and backed down. Lucina looked around, and while some people looked like they wanted to argue further, they knew that the princess had made up her mind.

"Quickly now. If we make it over the hill we should be in the clear." She ordered.

The entire group moved out, making sure to be as quiet as possible. An hour passed, then two, with all of them making as little noise as they could. Every time a close call came and went, Yarne whimpered in fear because of how easily he could hear the enemy's footsteps approaching and leaving the group.

Finally, the group could see the base of the hill that they wanted to climb, but just as they were about to reach the base, they heard loud growling sounds coming from above them. Landing within their midst, a wyvern rider landed, with the wyvern itself letting out a roar that was heard for miles around.

Reacting quickly, Lucina darted forwards, shoving Falchion straight through the roof of the creature's mouth. Noire followed up the attack, dispatching the rider with a quick shot.

"Run!" Lucina yelled, discarding all intents to sneak around the Risen. "Gerome, Cynthia, Nah! Keep their air units off us! Kjelle, Yarne! Protect Laurent and Noire! Owain, guard Brady! Everyone else, focus on running and killing any Risen you see!"

Taking off at a dead sprint, the group quickly charged up the hill. Luckily, they had a bit of a lead on the Risen, and with Gerome and Cynthia keeping any wyverns or pegasi occupied, that left those who remained on the ground enough time to make it over the hill and block the Risen's line of sight with the hill, hopefully losing them in another forest.

However, this plan had one main issue: they could not allow any Risen to remain in the air or else they would simply be tracked by the enemy fliers. Because of that, Gerome, Cynthia, Nah, Noire, and Laurent were their only real ways of taking out all of the enemy fliers.

So as they ran, Gerome, Cynthia, and Nah all stayed in the sky, keeping an eye out for any incoming fliers. At first, this seemed to be fine, with only one or two Risen wyvern riders in the immediate vicinity. However, about halfway up the hill, Nah spotted something that chilled the group to the core.

"Gods… There's so many of them! It's like a beehive!" Her slightly distorted dragon voice called down to the rest of the party.

Taking a quick look over her shoulder, Lucina saw what terrified the young dragon girl so much. With her eyes widening in fear, Lucina saw what was easily over a hundred wyvern and pegasus knights quickly ascending out of the forest behind them. However, those still on the ground found their attention quickly diverted elsewhere, as Risen started growling in the forest behind them.

"Keep running! Make it to the top of the hill!" Lucina shouted.

And so they did. Even as they were pursued by the oncoming undead horde, the survivors of Yllissol charged as quickly as they could towards their only hope for seeing another day. At the top of a hill was a clearing. Looking above, Lucina noticed that their fliers were engaging the enemy's, but the massive wave of enemy air units had yet to hit them.

"We hold the line here! Noire, Laurent! Focus on the enemy fliers! The moment they're taken out we'll leave!" Lucina ordered.

With their orders given, the children of the Shepherds started fighting back the Risen rushing into the clearing. Lucina herself found herself being charged by numerous Risen, who had no doubt identified the princess of Ylisse on sight, and prioritized her over the others.

"Like I'd let you!" Severa shouted, charging the Risen who sought to end the life of her friend.

Rushing forwards like a woman possessed, Severa leapt forward into the initial Risen charge, bodily tackling the first one to the ground while plunging a sword through the undead's face.

"Well, far be it for me to let you do all the work dear." Inigo chimed in, moving to assist the enraged red-head.

"Inigo, now is SO not the time for your flirting!" Severa shouted, swiftly decapitating another two Risen while parrying the blow of another.

Inigo quickly finished off the Risen that she was attacking before skewering another through the heart. "A simple term of affection, my dear. But you should know that it is always the time to compliment such a wonderful woman as yourself." A swing from Severa severed another head and very nearly sliced right through Inigo's head, causing the flirtatious man to gulp. "Okay, got the message. I'll shut up now."

"Good."

By that point, Lucina had joined the fray. There was no way that the three of them could hold off all the incoming Risen by themselves, which was the whole point of assigning guards to the three that needed the most protection.

As the fight continued on, the sound of steel colliding with steel filled the clearing, with the occasional noise of a fireball being launched by either Nah or Laurent at the enemy flying forces. However, Lucina became startled at the sound of crackling lightning. Quickly disengaging from the current enemy, she looked in the direction of the noise only to discover a dark flier had managed to maneuver around Nah and was about to unleash a powerful lightning spell at Noire and Laurent.

"No!" Lucina shouted, sprinting towards the small group in a futile attempt to bodily shove her friends out of the path of harm, though she already knew that she was much too far away to make it to them in time.

Luckily however, it appeared as if someone was smiling on them that day, as a large projectile impacted the dark flier and launched the Risen far away from the mount. The shot was followed up by two others, causing the mount to follow the same fate as its rider.

Looking in the direction that the shots came from, Lucina saw a red-haired boy wielding a black bow taller than he was. He was wearing strange clothing that could barely be considered such, considering the sheer number of holes that the outfit now possessed. She gave the boy a nod in thanks, and he responded with a nod of his own, before proceeding to nock another arrow.

Returning her attention back to the heat of the battle, Lucina couldn't help but appreciate the skill of the newcomer. His shot arrows much faster than she had thought possible, and it didn't seem to have any impact on his accuracy, felling flier after flier, producing a seemingly endless supply of those strange arrows of his.

Soon, Cynthia and the others flew down to assist the group with the remainder of the Risen. "All air units are down!" Cynthia reported before urging her pegasus to rush to the front line, skewering a Risen as she went.

"Right. Everyone, fall back! Laurent, prepare to cover our movement!" Lucina ordered.

Everyone acknowledged Lucina's orders, even their mysterious new ally. As quickly as they could, all the Ylissean refugees slowly fought as they retreated to surround Laurent, who concentrated on his spell. The moment that a gap appeared in the enemy forces, Lucina gave the signal.

"Laurent, NOW!"

"Of course. Begone, fiends!" Laurent shouted, thrusting his arm forwards.

Instantly, a giant wall of fire appeared between themselves and the enemy, completely incinerating any Risen that accidentally stumbled into it by accident and prevented the Risen from figuring out exactly which way the group had gone. This was the group's standard way of preventing the Risen from immediately following them, since for whatever reason, the Risen were awful at tracking through normal methods.

"Come on! This way!" Lucina shouted to the group, taking off towards the forest over the hill. She waved the archer that had assisted them to follow as they ran off into the forest and away from the Risen.

The group ran as fast as they could, desperate to put as much distance between themselves and their enemy as possible. After around an hour of non-stop running, Lucina ordered a stop.

"Yarne, are any Risen following us?" She asked, knowing that the two were the best at determining the answer to that question.

While Nah flew up into the sky, everyone was silent as Yarne listened for any sound that he could hear. After a few moments, he shook his head.

"No, I don't hear anything. We should be in the clear from anyone on the ground." He reported, before shifting back into his human form, completely exhausted from holding his taguel form for so long, having not shifted out since the start of his watch back at camp.

Lucina nodded. "We'll take a short rest here. Good job Yarne, take a break."

In response, Yarne gladly collapsed against a nearby tree, letting out a deep breath as he did so. Lucina smiled at the half-taguel. Without his aid, there would have been no chance for any of them to have made it through the day alive. Speaking of which…

The Princess of Ylisse turned at the most recent addition to their little group. Curiously, his bow was no longer on his person. Had he abandoned it in order to run faster? It did seem particularly unwieldy, and likely hindered his running speed. However, Lucina lamented the necessity of such a decision. The archer in question had more than proven the worth of his skill with that particular bow, and Lucina knew that it would have made their lives much easier in the long run if they still had it with them.

Regardless, she walked over to the red-haired boy, with Gerome walking behind her. "Many thanks for the assistance. We would not have been able to make it out of that if it wasn't for you." Lucina said, bowing her head in thanks.

The man in question rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Ah, no need to thank me. I'm just glad I could help." He then held out his hand. "My name is Shirou Emiya, by the way. A pleasure to meet you."

Lucina shook his hand. "Lucina Lowell. Princess of Ylisse… Or at least, what remains of it."

At this, the boy perked up. "Princess Lucina? You're who I'm looking for… But I was told you would be in Ylisstol… Did something happen?" He asked.

Gerome narrowed his eyes behind his mask as the princess merely nodded solemnly in response. "Yes… Ylisstol has fallen to Grima's forces."

"I see…" He took a deep breath. "One more crime to lay at that monster's feet. I was told that you were fighting against the Risen threat. Would you mind if I help you do that?"

Lucina gave Shirou a smile, and was about to accept his offer for aid when Gerome spoke up. "Lucina, before you say anything, may I ask him a few questions?" He asked.

Lucina looked a bit surprised at first, but nodded at Gerome's request. "Yes, of course."

"Very well. While I certainly appreciate your assistance Mr. Emiya, we know absolutely nothing about you. I will be frank, I find your timing suspicious at best, deliberate at worst." Gerome started. "With that in mind, where did you come from? Why were you looking for the princess?"

Shirou looked surprised by Gerome's reactions. He took a moment to compose himself before smiling.

"Ah. Well honestly, I'm from pretty far away. I don't really know how I got here in Ylisse to be honest. I found myself in New Southtown, and I helped them defend against the Risen… But we were overrun. I looked for survivors afterwards, but even after hours of searching, I could find no one left alive." He closed his eyes and took a moment to compose himself, taking a long deep breath.

When he next opened his eyes, it was obvious that there was a fierce determination that was impossible for the two there to miss.

"I wasn't strong enough to prevent the Risen from destroying that town… I wasn't strong enough to save everyone. I know that. But the guards were sure that you had a plan to strike back and destroy the Risen, so I would like to make sure that whatever your plan is, it succeeds. I want to do everything in my power to ensure that those monsters can't hurt anyone else ever again."

Gerome stared at the red-haired archer for a few moments, while Lucina merely smiled at his resolve. After a few moments, Gerome slowly nodded. He turned to Lucina. "He seems clear."

And it was true… To an extent. Gerome had seen the expressions of those who had lost everything to the Risen and hated them for it. And in that aspect, Shirou definitely reminded the wyvern rider of those people. However, there was something more. Their new friend… He didn't look like he wanted vengeance. He could recognize the fires of hatred anywhere, and Shirou just flat out didn't possess them. But he clearly hated the Risen… But he didn't hate them because he wanted to avenge those that they had killed.

That being said, a genuine hatred for Risen was enough to ensure that he wasn't their enemy at least. And they needed as many weapons raised against Grima as possible, even if their companion seemed to have abandoned his.

Lucina smiled at Gerome before giving Shirou a nod. "Then welcome aboard. I know you left behind your bow, but we have a couple of spare swords lying around if you think you could wield one."

Shirou gave Lucina a returning nod, but simply smiled at her offer. "Thank you kindly, but I will be fine." He said.

Lucina was about to ask what he meant, but before she could, Shirou took a step back and seemingly materialized the bow that he had been using before in his hands. The blue-haired princess was pleasantly surprised. While there were certainly weapons that were enchanted to return to their owner's hands on their own, such an enchantment was generally restricted to powerful throwing weapons. Seeing it on a bow of all things was definitely something she had never seen before.

"That's very useful. I'm glad to have you with us. Please come with me, I'll introduce you to everyone else." Lucina said, walking towards the area where the others had started to relax.

Gerome stayed a second longer, before shaking his head and following after his leader.

Shirou hesitated for a moment longer. He was still unsure why he had been sent into this desolate world. How many people were left for him to even save in this world? After the Risen were gone, would there even be enough people left so that he could pursue his dream of becoming an ally of justice? What about Rin? Did she and Saber manage to destroy the Grail?

All of these questions had been going through his head since the destruction of New Southtown almost two weeks ago. However, Shirou knew one thing with certainty: this group that he had joined needed his help.

And Shirou would always choose to help others, without any regrets.

 **A/N:**

 **So, bet most of you thought this was never gonna get updated again. Honestly, this came down to two things: losing my writing habit, and real life kicking my ass.**

 **Hopefully I'll be getting these chapters out with increasing frequency. Because oh god is this fanfiction going to be a long one if I go with my monstrously stupid idea. You'll see what I mean after next chapter.**

 **Also, check out my bio if you're a fan of my other stories. TLDR: Dropping RWBY, keeping Naruto. Won't be starting anything new until Naruto is done.**

 **Finally, thank you to everyone who reviewed and messaged me. Even if I didn't respond, those little voices here and there telling me to continue really helped pressure me into starting up my writing, which frankly is what I need sometimes.**

 **Now, onto reviews! Won't be answering every review individually this time, because most of the new ones boil down into two main points:**

 **Reality Marble aria changing -**

 **I can understand why my decision here might seem completely nonsensical, and I'm not going to lie that at first this was just me attempting to make the whole thing sound a bit more awesome (I know, completely stupid to do that to source material), however since then the plot of this story has changed a fair bit and I can now say that there is a legitimate reason for the change.**

 **You'll find out what that is when I explain why this whole plot is an incredibly stupid idea next chapter.**

 **Divine Constructs (and whether or not Risen qualify) -**

 **So, according to all of you guys Divine Constructs can be analyzed, which is fine by me. It doesn't have a huge impact on the plot. However, as I touched on a bit in this chapter, Risen are a completely different thing. The way I see it, Grima creates the weapons of the Risen with the Risen itself, so that he doesn't have to have a whole other force of creatures mining ore and forging weapons. Because of that, the weapons that we see are not really 'weapons' that Shirou can scan really, but a part of a creature. The exception to this is when Risen manage to pillage better weapons off of dead bodies. However, considering how far in the future we are, I highly doubt that there are that many good surviving weapons, and even if there were, with the sheer quantity of Risen likely murking around, it is incredibly unlikely that Shirou would encounter them.**

 **Anyways, that's it for me. Please let me know what you all thought! Because I personally hated this chapter!**


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